Coming Out Of The Tower
by Princess Pinky
Summary: During a quest to free herself from her feelings for Aurora, Mulan finds a woman trapped in a tower, plagued by her own fears. Alternate version of "The Tower."
1. Chapter One

**A/N:** So this is an AU fic for the episode "The Tower." It was inspired by an Anon on the OUATQueer-AntiSQ Tumblr and I asked if I could use the idea and so here we are! This won't involve anything from Storybrooke. This AU takes place sometime after Mulan joined the Merry Men and before everyone from SB returned to FTL. Each "chapter" will be very short, just one to three pages long.

_**Coming Out Of The Tower**_

**Chapter One**

_Th-ump._

_Th-ump._

_Th-ump._

_Mulan's lids peeled back; her heart was racing._

_Singing._

_She was in a castle—Aurora's castle—and the gentle lulls compelled her feet forward. Feet, she realized, encased in ruby colored silk flats and embroidered with intricate golden thread. Her feet stopped at a heavy wooden door where the song was at its brightest. She pressed her weight against it until it swung open, revealing a bedchamber and a canopy bed draped with sheaths of lavender silk at its center. But when she pulled back the whispering sheets of fabric, the bed was empty._

_Silence._

_Mulan looked down at her hands bunched with silk. Flushing fabric stole her attention away from them and she spun around, finding herself facing a mirror: the qipao draping her body was long and traditional, with a high collar and golden whirls that matched the shoes. The sleeves just covered her shoulders and the fabric followed fittingly along her body giving her the appearance of a long champagne glass before, ever so slightly, flaring halfway below her knees. The dress was impossible not to recognize: the traditional matrimonial attire of her kingdom._

"_This – this is impossible." Mulan pressed her hand to small golden petals at the base of her throat. Not just any dress, but her mother's wedding dress. "I shouldn't be wearing this. This is all wrong!"_

"_You're right. A queen alone in her room on her wedding night? We haven't had a moment to ourselves all day."_

"_Aurora! Wh – what are you talking about?"_

_The layers of lace that made up Aurora's billowing bell shaped white dress made a sound like a lover's breath as she stepped closer to Mulan. "Don't be nervous. I've been waiting for this; for you." Aurora lifted her hand to Mulan's cheek and stroked the length of her jaw with the back of her smooth fingers. Her hand traveled down to Mulan's chest, resting above her heart._

_Mulan instinctively moved her hand to rest upon Aurora's; she could feel her heart beating through their fingers and the sensation made her gasp._

_Aurora leaned in, touching her lips to Mulan's earlobe. "You've done this before." The mist of her voice settled on the tender skin of Mulan's ear._

_Mulan inclined her head, resting it in the crook of Aurora's shoulder. She slipped her free arm around the small of her back and soon her feet were moving again, following Aurora's in a cloudlike dance around the room. "Aurora…I love you." The words poured out effortlessly._

"_I love you too," Aurora whispered. Her lips found Mulan's and they stopped in the middle of the floor. Gentle at first, then soon Aurora's fingers were curling into the bun piled atop Mulan's head and the kiss turned molten._

_Mulan felt her hair cascade down her back and she shook her head, relishing the supple fingers massaging her scalp. Her hands worked their way up the back of Aurora's dress, searching for the ribbon on her corset. When they found it she began to tug, but suddenly Aurora pulled away._

"_Too bad you never told me."_

"_What?"_

_Aurora guided her in a graceful loop. "We're not really here. We were never here. We should be, but we're not…for one reason." Her arms dropped from Mulan's body. "You abandoned me."_

_Thunder crashed above the roof, lightning flashed outside the windows, and the room took on a haunting blue hue like the lips of a corpse. The canopy drapes suddenly began to blow raggedly in a howling wind, the fabric screaming as it ripped apart._

_Aurora's gown, once so full and beautiful like a summer rose, fell limp as though she'd been doused with water. A red glow began to emanate from her chest, giving her white bodice an illusion of lavender between the red and blue shades. She clutched her chest. "Goodbye, Mulan!" Her body hit the floor._

"_No!" The bones in Mulan's knees crunched as she fell to the floor beside Aurora. "I can save you!" She reached for Aurora's hands._

"_No. You can't save me, you left me!" Aurora weakly lifted her hand, revealing her beating heart._

"_I've done it before!" Mulan cried desperately. She reached for the heart but she was unable to wrest it from Aurora's cage-like fingers._

"_There's nothing you can do," Aurora rasped. The glow of her heart began to fade and Aurora's hands fell away. "Don't leave the next one…"_

"_Aurora!"_

_The last of the light blinked out of the heart and Aurora's lids fell shut._

Mulan shot up from her sleep. Pieces of hay stuck in the crevices of her armor and dust particles hovered in the rays of sunlight beaming through the slats of a barn door. Mulan looked to her left, then to her right: save for a few wool blankets and a handful of supplies she could carry on her back, she was alone in an empty horse stall. Her hand found its way to her chest, touching the spot above her heart; the beat was almost imperceptible.

Th-m.

Th-m.

Th-m.


	2. Chapter Two

**A/N:** I was looking last night after I posted the first chapter and I didn't realize how few Rapunzel fics are actually in existence, let alone Tangled Warrior fics. C'mon Rapunzel fandom, we need to rise up!

_**Coming Out Of The Tower**_

**Chapter Two**

The flask was nearly empty and they were nowhere near a village. The night prior Robin had suggested they set up camp in abandoned barn. Judging by the charred remains that were presumably a farmhouse, either an accident had occurred or someone had crossed someone they shouldn't have. Mulan swirled the mouth of the flask with the tip of her tongue and the liquid sparked on her tastebuds.

"If you don't mind me saying, you look like a woman who needs sleep more than a drink."

Mulan let the flask's contents corrode her throat once more before answering: "If only that were possible."

"Ah," Robin nodded. "I've been there." He kindly accepted the flask from Mulan and took a swig. "Is there, uh, anything you want to talk about?" He studied her face and added as an afterthought, "_Not_ talk about?"

"I donned a warrior's armor and took my father's place in battle at a time when my kingdom did not allow women to fight. For years I fought just as hard as my male peers, pretending to be something I was not. When I brought my kingdom to victory and unveiled the truth before the royal court, I vowed I would never again live such a lie."

"So don't."

"Easier said than done."

"May I ask a question?"

Mulan gave a limp nod.

"Is this about your loved one?"

Mulan closed her eyes.

"You're right," Robin said. "I apologize, I should not have asked such a personal–"

"It's okay," Mulan sighed. "You are correct."

"I take it you weren't honest with your loved one?"

"I was afraid."

Robin set the flask between them on a wooden beam. "After my wife died, Friar Tuck told me of a root that, if digested, would help one overcome any and all fears."

Mulan paused in reaching for the flask. "Where would one find such a root?"

"Well," Robin said slowly, "it's said to grow in the white moss near Sherwood Forest, just south of here."

Mulan swirled the flask, attempting to keep an exterior calm. "A day's journey, perhaps? How long will we be keeping camp here?"

Robin seemed to consider the idea. "A few days longer."

Mulan returned the flask to her belongings and secured them on her back. "If you don't mind, I believe I'm going to explore the trails."

"It has flecks of crystal within its flesh," Robin called after her. "It looks like stars. They call it night root. But you should know, they say that part of the forest is haunted."

The warrior gave pause in the doorway. "Then the forest and I have something in common."


	3. Chapter Three

**A/N:** This got a lot of hits on AO3 and a few kudos, so thanks for that and I hope everyone continues to enjoy.

_**Coming Out Of The Tower**_

**Chapter Three**

Khan seemed to sense her frustration and had moved with surprising swiftness through the forest, arriving sooner than Mulan had expected. Still, it was dark when she dismounted and she could hear the sounds of the crickets and other forest kin waiting and watching as she removed a carrot from her satchel and fed it to Khan for his honorable efforts.

It didn't take long to locate a fresh patch of white moss, it was everywhere. Mulan crouched down, planting her torch in the dirt, and began to cut through the moss with a long blade, a relic from her years in the war. The moss was so thick it seemed to go on for miles. It was difficult to believe when her blade finally hit something hard and when she brought it up, a dark root was poised on the blade's tip. Deftly, she sliced the root open and the flesh glittered in the light of her torch; a small crystal dusting wafted into her nose making her sneeze. She shook off the tingle in her sinuses and examined the innards of the root.

"Like stars," she whispered. Mulan closed her eyes and fell back against the trunk of a nearby pine. If the night root worked as foretold, she could _finally_ tell Aurora the truth. She heard Khan whinny in the darkness. "But that's not honorable, is it?" She'd abandoned them to spare Aurora and Phillip's happiness; to give their child the life it deserved. Aurora and Phillip's love was True: she'd seen his kiss awaken Aurora from Maleficent's wicked curse with her very eyes. The dreams were merely a consequence of being foolhardy enough to fall in love with someone else's True Love. Mulan set the night root down beside her and allowed her head to lull to the side. By the time she got back to the camp, it would be a waste of two days' time.

"Please! Help me!"

Mulan's posture went rigid and she clutched her knife defensively. The voice sounded far away, yet she climbed to her feet and fought through the brush to follow it. In a clearing she froze at a strange sight: a vast tower that stretched into the heavens and at its top, silhouetted in a single window, she could make out a petite form.

"Up here! Please!"

A black rope lagged from the window as though it had been waiting for her. Mulan shifted her focus across the clearing, but neither saw nor heard any danger. She felt her heart thud as she sheathed her blade and fisted the rope, using it to guide herself up the nooks and crannies of the old bricks. A trap, perhaps, but even so, she couldn't leave an innocent to distress.

The hours dragged on, but Mulan's determination never wavered. At last she gripped the inner frame of the window and pushed herself through. The first thing she noticed was the length of the rope—it kept going, on and on and on around the small room until it stopped…at the back of a woman's head, the same woman who had pled for her help.

"You're…you're the first person I've seen in such a long time," the woman said, slowly turning to face the warrior.

"How long have you been up here?"

"I've lost count of the years."

Mulan stepped closer, examining the miles of thick black locks.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Mulan." She motioned to the tiara atop the young woman's head. "Are you a princess?"

"Yes, but you can call me Rapunzel."

Mulan gave a respectful bow. "It's my honor, Your Majesty."

"No," Rapunzel said, shaking her head. "Don't call me that. My parents are the King and Queen, that honor is reserved for them. They are great leaders, adored by our people."

"How did you end up here?"

"I – I ran away."

"Why?"

Rapunzel turned away. "F–for the same reason you did."

"How do you know what I'm here for?"

"The night root, of course. That's the only reason people come to this part of the woods." She looked down shamefully. "When I got older I knew. I just _knew _I could never be a Queen my people expected of me. But at least I had my older brother. As firstborn, he was to inherit the throne; continue my family's legacy. But then, something happened…something horrible. It was a terrible, terrible accident, and after his death this – this _fear_ started to overwhelm me. When I closed my eyes…"

"The nightmares would come."

"They crippled my sleep."

"Did you take the night root?"

"Yes, I brewed it into a potent tea. It didn't work."

"So you chose to run away?"

"Yes." Rapunzel opened her arms. "It began to storm that night and I took refuge in the tower." She gestured toward the door. "It was the greatest mistake of my life. I was here a week before I realized my error and when I tried to leave, a witch appeared, her face hidden beneath a cloak. She sealed off the door and trapped me here."

"You needn't worry. I'm going to take you home." Mulan moved towards the tower door.

"You don't understand, she won't let me!" Rapunzel grabbed for Mulan's hand to steer her away from the door, but it was too late, the warrior had already reached to touch the handle. "Whenever I try to leave she–" A breeze tore through the window, extinguishing the candelabra. Rapunzel dropped Mulan's hand. "It's too late!"

Mulan pushed through the window frame and saw a hooded figure racing towards the tower. She instinctively reached for her blade while the figure latched onto Rapunzel's hair and began to ascend at an alarming speed.


	4. Chapter Four

**A/N:** Special thanks to DAC and Camron for being the first to review!

_**Coming Out Of The Tower**_

**Chapter Four**

"I should never have called to you!" Rapunzel cried. She grabbed the warrior by the arm, jerking her away from the window. "If you leave now maybe she'll spare you!"

"Leave now?" Mulan asked. "To where?" She pointed her blade at the window. "You said that's the only way in or out!" She wrenched her arm from the princess and ran to the window using her blade to slice through the thick braid.

"No! She'll kill you!" Rapunzel shrieked. She again tried to pull Mulan back. "There's nothing you can do!"

"I _can_ save you," Mulan insisted. "And I will! But you must let me cut your hair!" When she turned back to resume sawing at the braid, the hooded figure pounced through the window, sending Mulan sliding across the circular floor. Mulan scrambled to her feet, kicking over a small table in the process, and ran towards the witch with her blade pointed.

The witch raised her arm and lassos of Rapunzel's hair rose like marionette strings and began to tangle themselves around Mulan, holding her like a straightjacket.

Rapunzel flattened herself against a wardrobe, frozen in fear.

"Stay away from her!"

The witch turned her head towards Mulan and lowered its hood to reveal a face identical to Rapunzel's. "I_ am_ her!"

"But –"

"– _this is impossible." Mulan pressed her hand to small golden petals at the base of her throat. Not just any dress, but her mother's wedding dress. "I shouldn't be wearing this. This is all wrong!"_

The words—the vivid images from her sleep—burrowed to the surface of her mind before she could stop them. It was not the time to be thinking about the woman whose heart she would never have. There was a real woman mere feet away in very real danger.

_Aurora guided her in a graceful loop. "We're not really here. We were never here. We should be, but we're not…for one reason." Her arms dropped from Mulan's body. "You abandoned me."_

"Stop it. Stop it!" Mulan snarled beneath her breath. The words came out sounding like curses. "You're not real!"

"_How did you end up here?"_

"_I – I ran away."_

"_Why?"_

_Rapunzel turned away. "F–for the same reason you did."_

"You're not real," Mulan said again. Her mind was suddenly clear: _crystal_ clear.

_Deftly, she sliced the root open and the flesh glittered in the light of her torch; a small crystal dusting wafted into her nose making her sneeze. She shook off the tingle in her sinuses and examined the innards of the root._

Mulan's heart thundered against her ribcage as the epiphany settled in her brain. "Rapunzel! She's you! You said you ate the night root and thought it didn't work, but when you tried to go home the witch appeared! Don't you see? It did work! The root allows you to overcome your fears and your fear is _you_!"

"I can't!" Rapunzel gasped. Each time she moved along the wall, the witch matched her. "Please help me!"

"I am," Mulan replied. "But only _you_ can defeat her."

"I smell your stench," the witch snarled. "A spoilt little princess who has everything her heart desires except—"

"No! Stop!"

The witch reached for Rapunzel's face, very nearly touching her. In a blur of motion she was suddenly across the room, standing before Mulan. The back of her fingers grazed Mulan's cheek. "Except for the heart of good woman!"

A gasp caught in Mulan's throat. "You lied to me."

"No, no I didn't," Rapunzel whimpered. She was curled beside the window, her knees to her chest and tears marring her dark cheeks.

"You said you were afraid of being a leader—"

"No," Rapunzel argued, shaking her head. "I said I was afraid I could never be the Queen my people wanted me to be."

The witch reached for Mulan's restrained hand, which still held her blade. She jerked it from the warrior's hand and trailed the edge of the blade along Mulan's bottom lip. "You know what it's like, don't you?" The witch's form flickered and suddenly Aurora's face was staring back at Mulan.

"You. Are. Not. Real." Mulan growled.

"Oh, but I _am_." The witch opened her robes, revealing a full term belly. She rubbed her fingers across it and pointed the knife at Mulan's chest. "And now it's my turn to take _your _heart!"

Mulan closed her eyes, steeling herself against the burn of the blade and hoping her death would be swift.

"No!" Rapunzel flung herself across the tower in an attempt to tackle the witch but her body moved through the witch as though she was made of smoke and the blade clattered to the stone floor. She found herself pressed firm against Mulan's frame, their faces mere centimeters apart.

Mulan felt a tear roll down her cheek as she experienced the beat of Rapunzel's racing heart through her chest, matching the tempo of her own. Suddenly Rapunzel's mouth was on hers, tentative at first, and then Mulan returned the kiss. She felt the braids fall away from her body and lifted her hands to the sides of Rapunzel's face, wringing her fingers into the princess's raven threads.

Rapunzel shuddered and slipped her arms around Mulan's neck, pushing her backwards until they hit the stone wall. She didn't pull away until both their lungs shrieked for release.

Mulan's chest rose and fell as though she'd just won a battle. As her vision cleared she noticed the hair around the room beginning to disappear, puffing into clouds of glittering dust. _"Look!"_ she panted.

Rapunzel turned towards Mulan's outstretched finger and watched in awe at the hair vanished in elaborate loops like miniature fireworks right up her body, until her hair resembled the length it was the day she first found the night root. "I don't understand…"

"If I had to guess, you haven't been here as long as you think. You would have perished long before now from starvation or dehydration. When did your rations run out?"

"I brought a week's supply with me, but I picked berries and drank rain for days before I used them."

"Then you've been here little more than a week at best. The night root realized your fear. There was never a witch, Rapunzel. It was your fear personified; it took on a life and story of its own."

"But then how did you see it too? Did you also eat the night root?"

"No," Mulan said. "But I did inhale it. Perhaps that's why I was more attuned to your fear instead of my own? The dosage wasn't as prevalent in my body." She moved to the tower door and pulled the handle, revealing a winding stone staircase. "You were right," she said. "I couldn't save you after all. But I am not going to leave you—I am taking you home."


	5. Chapter Five

**A/N:** I'm thinking this will probably be the second to last chapter.

_**Coming Out Of The Tower**_

**Chapter Five**

Rapunzel held tight to Mulan's waist, half fearful of toppling off Khan and half fearful of squeezing the breath right out of her savior. "Mulan?" she called over the crunch of the stallion's hooves.

"Yes?"

"I apologize."

Mulan patted Khan's neck, calling a command to him in a language Rapunzel didn't understand. The horse slowed to a trot. "For what?"

"You know," Rapunzel muttered. "For – for the kiss. It was wrong."

Mulan felt Rapunzel's grip on her torso tighten. "It's not wrong to kiss a woman."

"I mean," Rapunzel corrected, "it was wrong to kiss you in that way. Without your consent. I wasn't – I didn't know how else to face my fear."

Mulan smiled, though the princess couldn't see it. "You needn't apologize, Your Majesty. My consent was gladly given."

"I'm afraid I do not understand."

"What is not to understand?" Mulan asked. "We are alike."

"Are you – do you—"

"My heart does not lie with men."

"Have you kissed women before?" Rapunzel asked tentatively.

"Yes."

"Many?"

"Few."

"I've only ever kissed one, except for the tower. We were children; she was the baker's daughter. My nursemaid caught us and soon after her family moved away and I never saw Ti again."

"Your parents? You believe they forced them to leave?"

Rapunzel shook her head. "No. They were in a neighboring kingdom when it happened. I think my nursemaid forced them out though I never had proof. She never scolded me directly, perhaps because she was in my parents' employ, but I heard her scold Ti _fiercely_ that night."

"People can be very cruel when they're presented with something they fail to understand. I was fortunate: my parents never questioned me. When I announced to them that my doll needed a wife, father saved for many months and presented the new doll to me with two white gowns my mother had sewn." Mulan allowed herself a wispy smile at the memory.

Rapunzel quivered. "May I ask another question?"

"You may."

"When the witch spoke to you, her – her voice changed…but it was not yours. If not you, then who was she?"

The clap of Khan's hooves filled Mulan's ears. She closed her eyes, trusting in the horse to know where he was going. There was only open field before them. She recalled Robin's warning and answered quietly, "A ghost."

"A ghost," Rapunzel echoed. Her eyes spilled over and the princess laid her head against Mulan's back, her cheek cupped between the warrior's shoulder blades. "I was swimming in the river where I should not have been, where my parents had always warned us to avoid. When I got caught in the rapids my brother dove in after me; saved me…but could not save himself."

"I'm sorry."

"The throne was _his_. He was to be married to a woman he loved very much and who loved him fiercely in return. I knew I could never have that. I can never be happy with a man; I can never give my parents the grandchildren they yearn for, nor my kingdom the heirs they expect. I cannot be Queen."

"A woman's worth—a Queen's worth—is not measured in how many children she can produce. Not all families are blood, Rapunzel. Sometimes families are the people we choose. This is who you are, you cannot hide from it forever."

"What if my parents believe the way my nursemaid did?"

"Then it shall be their loss, not yours. You also fail to ask: what if they don't?"

Rapunzel shivered again. "My kingdom's never had a Queen marry a woman before."

"Perhaps you shall be the first. Being different does not make you bad."

"But it may make my subjects wary; it may anger them."

"Or it may make subjects like yourself feel that it's okay to be themselves because even their Queen is brave enough to be who she is."


End file.
